Monopoly Money:an endangered species?

Over in England,they've released a new version of Monopoly that uses debit cards instead of the well-known Monopoly money which evens includes a little scanner to run the cards thru. It's called Monopoly Here & Now and the US company is considering doing the same thing. I may be old fashioned here but it just doesn't seem right to me. Part of the fun of the game is dealing with the fake money. It's like using the tweezers in Operation or popping the bubbled dice in Trouble. The game is just not the same without it.

Why do we have to include debit cards in kid's games anyway? Ok,I know that adults and teens play with Monopoly too-why else would they make a Lord of the Rings version or a Mets and Yankees edition if there wasn't a big market for them. Board games are one of the few simple entertainments left in the world and to toss in some modern day nuisance to look hip and "with it" kind of dilutes the experience to me.

I'm not against change,per se-I think it's cool to have Simpsons chess and a Star Wars version of Risk or even Trival Pursuit with DVDs. Games are supposed to be fun and making them more appealing to certain fan bases is good marketing. I even like it when they adjust Monopoly playing pieces to reflect the theme as they recently did with the new Superman edition. But to change a basic component of the game like that.....

Well,all I can say is that if you still have an old school Monopoly game sitting on a shelf somewhere,keep that bad boy intact. A few years from now,you might make a sweet deal selling it on EBay or trading it online to get the newest Video IPod upgrade attachment. As for me,I'll keep my board games as old school as possible. If all else fails,there's always Uno to fall back on.